Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00344-1
Julian M. Allwood
Fifty years after carbon capture and storage (CCS) was commercialized, global capacity has reached just 0.09% of global emissions; even if installation rates immediately expand 10-fold, this will make no quantitatively important contribution to climate mitigation by 2050. Deployment of emission-free electricity generation is also constrained, so there will be no quantitatively important supply of hydrogen or negative-emission technologies by 2050 either, and climate policy must turn to other more achievable options. The bulk materials must be produced without process emissions, powered solely by emission-free electricity, within a constrained global electricity budget. Primary production of steel and paper can be fully electrified, although the electrical intensity of green hydrogen will constrain new steel processes. However, steel, aluminum, glass, plastic and potentially cement can all be recycled without emissions and with high efficiency. This reality should direct research toward improving the quality of recycled production, making better use of less material, and should be central to any advice given by academics to the policy community. Fifty years after it was commercialized, global carbon capture and storage (CCS) capacity is equal to 0.09% of global emissions. Meanwhile, global emission-free electricity generation grows at a steady, linear rate. This Perspective argues that it is now too late for CCS or hydrogen to make a substantial contribution by 2050, so other solutions are required to decarbonize industry.
{"title":"Too late for CCS and hydrogen","authors":"Julian M. Allwood","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00344-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00344-1","url":null,"abstract":"Fifty years after carbon capture and storage (CCS) was commercialized, global capacity has reached just 0.09% of global emissions; even if installation rates immediately expand 10-fold, this will make no quantitatively important contribution to climate mitigation by 2050. Deployment of emission-free electricity generation is also constrained, so there will be no quantitatively important supply of hydrogen or negative-emission technologies by 2050 either, and climate policy must turn to other more achievable options. The bulk materials must be produced without process emissions, powered solely by emission-free electricity, within a constrained global electricity budget. Primary production of steel and paper can be fully electrified, although the electrical intensity of green hydrogen will constrain new steel processes. However, steel, aluminum, glass, plastic and potentially cement can all be recycled without emissions and with high efficiency. This reality should direct research toward improving the quality of recycled production, making better use of less material, and should be central to any advice given by academics to the policy community. Fifty years after it was commercialized, global carbon capture and storage (CCS) capacity is equal to 0.09% of global emissions. Meanwhile, global emission-free electricity generation grows at a steady, linear rate. This Perspective argues that it is now too late for CCS or hydrogen to make a substantial contribution by 2050, so other solutions are required to decarbonize industry.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"26-33"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1038/s44286-026-00357-4
As we enter our third volume, we take a moment to celebrate chemical engineering’s past and look ahead to many more exciting years for both the field and the journal.
当我们进入第三卷时，我们花了一点时间来庆祝化学工程的过去，并展望该领域和期刊更令人兴奋的岁月。
{"title":"Honoring the past and the future in the present","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00357-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00357-4","url":null,"abstract":"As we enter our third volume, we take a moment to celebrate chemical engineering’s past and look ahead to many more exciting years for both the field and the journal.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-026-00357-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00349-w
Stuart Linley, Chanon Pornrungroj, Erwin Reisner
Solar fuel synthesis is a potential technology to produce storable and transportable energy carriers and net-zero chemicals. However, solar-powered circular chemistry will require large areas of land, which are often prohibitively expensive, needed for agriculture or housing, or politically inaccessible. Shifting from land deployment to solar chemical production on open water bodies thus provides an attractive alternative to overcome the challenges associated with land installations. This Perspective presents concepts, prototype devices, deployment scenarios and the advantages of floating solar fuel applications on water compared with conventional land-based systems. Inspired by the promise of floating photovoltaics, we discuss both floating platforms and self-floating solar fuel devices, along with the opportunities they offer to improve the societal and economic benefits of solar fuel synthesis. We believe that solar fuel production on open water deserves serious consideration, as it can overcome the limitations of land-based deployment and enable decentralized, mobile deployment around the world. Solar fuels synthesis is a promising technology for net-zero chemicals production, but capacity is inherently tied to area, and water is often required as a reagent, making land-based deployment costly. This Perspective examines floating designs for scaling solar chemical pathways for a bright future on open water.
{"title":"Floating solar technologies for sustainable chemical synthesis on open water","authors":"Stuart Linley, Chanon Pornrungroj, Erwin Reisner","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00349-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00349-w","url":null,"abstract":"Solar fuel synthesis is a potential technology to produce storable and transportable energy carriers and net-zero chemicals. However, solar-powered circular chemistry will require large areas of land, which are often prohibitively expensive, needed for agriculture or housing, or politically inaccessible. Shifting from land deployment to solar chemical production on open water bodies thus provides an attractive alternative to overcome the challenges associated with land installations. This Perspective presents concepts, prototype devices, deployment scenarios and the advantages of floating solar fuel applications on water compared with conventional land-based systems. Inspired by the promise of floating photovoltaics, we discuss both floating platforms and self-floating solar fuel devices, along with the opportunities they offer to improve the societal and economic benefits of solar fuel synthesis. We believe that solar fuel production on open water deserves serious consideration, as it can overcome the limitations of land-based deployment and enable decentralized, mobile deployment around the world. Solar fuels synthesis is a promising technology for net-zero chemicals production, but capacity is inherently tied to area, and water is often required as a reagent, making land-based deployment costly. This Perspective examines floating designs for scaling solar chemical pathways for a bright future on open water.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"34-46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-14DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00353-0
Thomas Dursch
Yushan Yan from the University of Delaware and Versogen, Inc. talks to Nature Chemical Engineering about his path to developing and scaling up PiperION, a globally leading anion-exchange membrane for electrochemical applications.
{"title":"Twenty years of PiperION membrane innovation","authors":"Thomas Dursch","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00353-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00353-0","url":null,"abstract":"Yushan Yan from the University of Delaware and Versogen, Inc. talks to Nature Chemical Engineering about his path to developing and scaling up PiperION, a globally leading anion-exchange membrane for electrochemical applications.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"3-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00352-1
Andrew Livingston
Polymer membranes able to separate organic molecules present in hydrocarbon liquids were demonstrated in the 1960s and first commercialized in the 1990s. Now, a new generation of research advocates using advanced polymer membranes to separate large-scale hydrocarbon mixtures, such as crude oils. This technology holds great promise for low-energy separation applications.
{"title":"Don’t go (phase) changing","authors":"Andrew Livingston","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00352-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00352-1","url":null,"abstract":"Polymer membranes able to separate organic molecules present in hydrocarbon liquids were demonstrated in the 1960s and first commercialized in the 1990s. Now, a new generation of research advocates using advanced polymer membranes to separate large-scale hydrocarbon mixtures, such as crude oils. This technology holds great promise for low-energy separation applications.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"12-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00345-0
Janine K. Nunes, Howard A. Stone
Rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems has made possible an enormous array of studies enabled by controlling fluid flow and chemistry at small scales. In 1998, Whitesides and colleagues introduced manufacturing methods, such as soft lithography, that triggered a wide adoption of these approaches, which now permeate the field of microfluidics and help advance new technologies.
{"title":"Rapid prototyping for microfluidics across disciplines","authors":"Janine K. Nunes, Howard A. Stone","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00345-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00345-0","url":null,"abstract":"Rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems has made possible an enormous array of studies enabled by controlling fluid flow and chemistry at small scales. In 1998, Whitesides and colleagues introduced manufacturing methods, such as soft lithography, that triggered a wide adoption of these approaches, which now permeate the field of microfluidics and help advance new technologies.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"17-19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00351-2
Ingo Pinnau, Yingge Wang
Conventional separations account for a large share of global energy consumption. Efficient membrane technologies have the potential to substantially reduce energy use, costs and CO2 emissions — particularly through ultramicroporous polymers, a key class of materials advancing membrane-based gas separations first reported by Budd and McKeown in 2004.
{"title":"Small pores make a big step for gas separations","authors":"Ingo Pinnau, Yingge Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00351-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00351-2","url":null,"abstract":"Conventional separations account for a large share of global energy consumption. Efficient membrane technologies have the potential to substantially reduce energy use, costs and CO2 emissions — particularly through ultramicroporous polymers, a key class of materials advancing membrane-based gas separations first reported by Budd and McKeown in 2004.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"20-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-09DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00322-7
Nisha Modi, Raghavendra Nimiwal, Jane Liao, Yitian Li, Kyle J. M. Bishop, Allie C. Obermeyer
Membraneless organelles are essential for cellular function. These biomolecular condensates often exhibit complex morphologies in response to biological stimuli. In vitro condensate models help elucidate how these multiphase assemblies form and their possible functions. Here we use such a model to investigate the formation of hollow internal regions, or vacuoles, within condensates in response to a pH change. Fast rates of pH decrease and larger droplet sizes promote vacuole development within the condensates. We show that vacuole formation is a non-equilibrium process driven by the diffusion-limited exchange of condensate components during a rapid pH change. We develop a physics-based model that describes how associative phase-separating systems respond to rapid changes in external conditions, specifically pH. Our qualitative model agrees with experimental results, showing that rapid pH changes shift the phase boundaries, triggering spinodal decomposition and inducing vacuole formation within the condensates. Our pH-sensitive in vitro model illustrates a mechanism of vacuole formation in associative condensates and provides insights into the regulation of multiphase condensates in vivo. Rapid pH changes can trigger hollow vacuoles in associative condensates of pH-responsive biomolecules. Using a model enzyme–polymer system, how larger droplets and faster pH changes promote vacuole formation by creating unstable non-equilibrium compositions is shown. A physics-based model reproduces these observations, showing when and how vacuoles arise through spinodal decomposition.
{"title":"Transient pH changes drive vacuole formation in enzyme–polymer condensates","authors":"Nisha Modi, Raghavendra Nimiwal, Jane Liao, Yitian Li, Kyle J. M. Bishop, Allie C. Obermeyer","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00322-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00322-7","url":null,"abstract":"Membraneless organelles are essential for cellular function. These biomolecular condensates often exhibit complex morphologies in response to biological stimuli. In vitro condensate models help elucidate how these multiphase assemblies form and their possible functions. Here we use such a model to investigate the formation of hollow internal regions, or vacuoles, within condensates in response to a pH change. Fast rates of pH decrease and larger droplet sizes promote vacuole development within the condensates. We show that vacuole formation is a non-equilibrium process driven by the diffusion-limited exchange of condensate components during a rapid pH change. We develop a physics-based model that describes how associative phase-separating systems respond to rapid changes in external conditions, specifically pH. Our qualitative model agrees with experimental results, showing that rapid pH changes shift the phase boundaries, triggering spinodal decomposition and inducing vacuole formation within the condensates. Our pH-sensitive in vitro model illustrates a mechanism of vacuole formation in associative condensates and provides insights into the regulation of multiphase condensates in vivo. Rapid pH changes can trigger hollow vacuoles in associative condensates of pH-responsive biomolecules. Using a model enzyme–polymer system, how larger droplets and faster pH changes promote vacuole formation by creating unstable non-equilibrium compositions is shown. A physics-based model reproduces these observations, showing when and how vacuoles arise through spinodal decomposition.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"47-56"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-025-00322-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00315-6
Grant M. Landwehr, Bastian Vogeli, Cong Tian, Bharti Singal, Kyle Zolkin, Irene Martinez, Anika Gupta, Rebeca Lion, Edward H. Sargent, Ashty S. Karim, Michael C. Jewett
Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) can produce important one-carbon (C1) feedstocks for sustainable biomanufacturing, such as formate. Unfortunately, natural formate assimilation pathways are inefficient and constrained to organisms that are difficult to engineer. Here we establish a synthetic reductive formate pathway (ReForm) in vitro. ReForm is a six-step pathway consisting of five engineered enzymes catalyzing nonnatural reactions to convert formate into the universal biological building block acetyl-CoA. We establish ReForm by selecting enzymes among 66 candidates from prokaryotic and eukaryotic origins. Through iterative cycles of engineering, we create and evaluate 3,173 sequence-defined enzyme mutants, tune cofactor concentrations and adjust enzyme loadings to increase pathway activity toward the model end product malate. We demonstrate that ReForm can accept diverse C1 substrates, including formaldehyde, methanol and formate produced from the electrochemical reduction of CO2. Our work expands the repertoire of synthetic C1 utilization pathways, with implications for synthetic biology and the development of a formate-based bioeconomy. Cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient ways to address rising atmospheric CO2 levels are urgently needed. Here the authors combine electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate with biosynthetic conversion of formate to the universal building block acetyl-CoA using a synthetic metabolic pathway called ReForm.
{"title":"A synthetic cell-free pathway for biocatalytic upgrading of formate from electrochemically reduced CO2","authors":"Grant M. Landwehr, Bastian Vogeli, Cong Tian, Bharti Singal, Kyle Zolkin, Irene Martinez, Anika Gupta, Rebeca Lion, Edward H. Sargent, Ashty S. Karim, Michael C. Jewett","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00315-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00315-6","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) can produce important one-carbon (C1) feedstocks for sustainable biomanufacturing, such as formate. Unfortunately, natural formate assimilation pathways are inefficient and constrained to organisms that are difficult to engineer. Here we establish a synthetic reductive formate pathway (ReForm) in vitro. ReForm is a six-step pathway consisting of five engineered enzymes catalyzing nonnatural reactions to convert formate into the universal biological building block acetyl-CoA. We establish ReForm by selecting enzymes among 66 candidates from prokaryotic and eukaryotic origins. Through iterative cycles of engineering, we create and evaluate 3,173 sequence-defined enzyme mutants, tune cofactor concentrations and adjust enzyme loadings to increase pathway activity toward the model end product malate. We demonstrate that ReForm can accept diverse C1 substrates, including formaldehyde, methanol and formate produced from the electrochemical reduction of CO2. Our work expands the repertoire of synthetic C1 utilization pathways, with implications for synthetic biology and the development of a formate-based bioeconomy. Cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient ways to address rising atmospheric CO2 levels are urgently needed. Here the authors combine electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate with biosynthetic conversion of formate to the universal building block acetyl-CoA using a synthetic metabolic pathway called ReForm.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"57-69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00324-5
Zeyan Liu, Edward H. Sargent
Reducing energy consumption is a key priority in carbon capture and release. Now, a thermally responsive pH-swing mediator for CO2 capture is presented that operates at an impressively low regeneration temperature of 60 °C, making it compatible with a solar-driven capture–release cycle.
{"title":"Heat-driven pH swing for efficient CO2 capture and release","authors":"Zeyan Liu, Edward H. Sargent","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00324-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00324-5","url":null,"abstract":"Reducing energy consumption is a key priority in carbon capture and release. Now, a thermally responsive pH-swing mediator for CO2 capture is presented that operates at an impressively low regeneration temperature of 60 °C, making it compatible with a solar-driven capture–release cycle.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 1","pages":"22-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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